family camping

This past weekend the whole family went camping, the whole family minus Tucker that is.

Tucker's 18 as of today (Happy Birthday Tuck) and had other plans that didn't include the family,

I guess we aren't so cool and fun anymore.

Anyway, we did celebrate a few firsts up camping this summer.

The first one being my dad actually helped cook breakfast (even while sitting) and he volunteered to do it,

usually it's Jim and Heath that are the ones outside on the grills.

This was also Kimberly's first camping experience and she did fantastic, so did her parents!

The plan was to celebrate the July birthdays up camping but since Tucker didn't come we just had my mom to celebrate.  She's turning 58 this Saturday not 85 like her cupcake says thanks to Heath.

We celebrated with a dinner of sliders, baked beans, potato salad, corn on the cob and cupcakes and rhubarb crisp for dessert.

The gigantic picnic table that Matt built is so perfect for all of our feasts, it was so sweet that Cody loved helping set the table for all of our meals.

Nicole and Jim each gave the boys their very own personalized hot dog/smores cooker.  Luke's says "The Hot Dog King" because he loves to sit by the fire and cook his own meals and he does it to perfection.

Brooke's been having trouble with her car overheating so she followed us up on the way up to camping, to keep the car from overheating she had to drive with the heat on full blast the whole way, not fun when it's already over 100 degrees outside.  It was the same thing on the way home but Hailey was with her this time, I couldn't help but laugh when you saw what a sweaty mess they were from the drive.  Thankfully Heath and Jim got the part to fix it once we got back and she is a cool girl once again.

 Saturday we took a family hike up to a mountain lake.

Matt and Summer were the only ones to do the hike before so the rest of us were excited to try it out. 

A few details were left out when explaining it to us, 

"like it's not just down the road a mile then you turn up another road and go up to where you hike"

somebody forgot to mention that once you turn on the road after a mile it's an eight mile ride up the mountain on a tiny gravel dusty road that winds back and forth, not so fun when you are riding in the back of a truck.

We survived it though and started the hike just a little sweaty and dusty.

The hike was definitely a work out at times, thankfully between the thirteen of us and three dogs we were spread out quite a bit so you didn't have to feel rushed and we took breaks often.

Even Kimberly joined us on the hike in a makeshift sling made out of rope and my mom's sarong. 

The scenery was beautiful we even found a little snow still tucked away up in the mountains.

The boys did awesome, even though it was just a one and a half mile hike they didn't complain at all, it wasn't until right before we made it that Ryan asked to be carried which of course was denied.

Matt would constantly remind us that we were half way there and that the lake was just right over that ridge, it didn't take long for us to realize his sense of distance was way off but he did keep us slightly entertained though. 

Proof that we made it.

 Good Times